AIDS as a feminist issue

One drawback, of course, of ‘polyandrous motherhood’ is the mounting risks of AIDS. Women’s sexual transactions and attempts at strategic allocation of their reproductive power are performed in contexts of high level risks and uncertain­ties, as vividly illustrated in Haram’s chapter; risks which are exacerbated by the scaringly rapid spread of HIV/AIDS. The epidemic furthermore is used as a tool in ongoing gender struggles, women being pointed out as the major carriers of the virus, and thus as the contaminators. Most current HIV/AIDS prevention ef­forts are based on gender stereotypes rooted in the West, i. e. on mainstream no­tions of male domination and female subordination. Silbersmith (this volume) shows the shortcomings of such campaigns, with the situation of African men tak­en into consideration. The shortcomings are equally evident seen from the posi­tion of African women. With changing socio-economic conditions, traditional African masculinities—based in pre-colonial days on male positions as warriors and cattle herders and later, with increasing money economies from the mid-20th century onwards, on male roles as breadwinners—have been undermined. Now­adays, with increasing unemployment and many men incapable of fulfilling ‘tradi­tional’ social roles and expectations, “male identity and self-esteem become in­creasingly linked to sexuality and sexual manifestations” (Silbersmith, this vol­ume). Because of this, AIDS prevention campaigns focused on the ABC of Ab­stinence, Be faithful and Condom use, are not very likely to be successful; men, who see their masculinity as based on sexual conquests, in line with the Zulu isoka ideal (cf. Hunter 2003) are unlikely to listen to such messages. As for the women, campaigns which do not challenge prevailing gender stereotypes are of little use. Nevertheless, as argued in the chapter by Jungar and Oinas, certain types of HIV/ AIDS prevention research support and maintain prevailing gender stereotypes and power relations. This is the case for example regarding the medical media pet